Downender for transferring coils



N. 1.. PIM1 April 29, 1969 DOWNENDER FOR TRANSFERRING COILS I Filed April 28, 1967 S 2 m MM M m f N VL R N O N T m m M w R 4 m M/ w% A ril 29, 1969 N, L, PM I 3,441,148

DOWNENDER FOR TRKNSFERRING COILS Filed April 28, 196'? sheet 2 of 2 v R FIG-3 my? 98 96 so as 82 I E 78 4 a2.

E E I Rlzs I26 10 I44 I42 {I26 138 IBOF IZG'S FIG.4

INVENTOR.

NORMAN L. PIM

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,441,148 DOWNENDER FOR TRANSFERRING COILS Norman Lester Pim, Salem, Ohio, assignor to E. W. Bliss Company, Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 634,525 Int. Cl. B25j 5/00 US. Cl. 214-1 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure is an improved downender for transferring coils of strip, wire, or the like comprising a receiving platform having a plurality of power driven rollers thereon which is pivotable from a vertical loading position in which the coil axes extend horizontally to a horizontal discharge position where the coil axes are vertical. A retractable arbor is extended for holding the coils in relationship to the platform in the vertical loading position and a retractable coil stop aids in positioning coils of varying thickness on the arbor. In particular the disclosure involves an arrangement for separately actuating the arbor and coil stop to various positions spaced from a fixed reference plane to thereby facilitate handling of coils of varying thickness.

This invention is particularly applicable to handling coils in a coil slitting line in which strip is slit into various widths and wrapped on a wrapping mandrel for transfer 0 by appropriate means to a conveyor line or point of discharge and it will be described with particular reference thereto; however, it will be appreciated that the invention has more general application and may be used in other strip handling lines where coils are to be moved from a vertical position to a horizontal position.

It has become common practice to manufacture sheet metal strips by slitting a wide strip and wrapping the narrow strips onto a mandrel. The wrapping mandrel horizontally extends through the center of the coiled strlps. The coils must be transferred, usually one at a time from the mandrel to a roller conveyor upon which they will be transported.

To facilitate coil handling it has become common practice to provide a pivoting platform known as a downender that receives the cut coils from the wrapping mandrel and thereafter transfers them to the roller conveyor. An example of such device may include a pivoted platform having a power actuated receiving mandrel upon WhlCh the previously slit coils are pushed from the wrapping mandrel. One of several coils may be transferred from the wrapping mandrel onto the receiving mandrel by a pusher plate. The platform then pivots from a vertical to horizontal position in line with the roller conveyor. The receiving mandrel is retracted allowing the coil to be pushed off onto the conveyor.

It has been determined that prior art apparatuses of the type described are not entirely satisfactory because these devices are not readily adapted to receive coils of varying widths primarily because there is no reliable means for positioning the coils on the receiving mandrel with the pusher plate. Either the plate is extended too far and more than one coil is transferred; or vice versa, a coil remains half on and half off the receiving mandrel with the obvious result that it is dropped when the platform is pivoted.

The present invention is directed to providing a device for transferring coils of varying thicknesses from a receiving position to a discharge position in which these and other disadvantages are overcome.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a device for receiving coils of varying thicknesses from a 3,441,148 1m Patented Apr. 29, 1969 wrapping mandrel. The device comprises a power actuated arbor which is extended in the loading position coaxially to the wrapping mandrel and upon which the coils are received. Cooperating with the arbor is a retractable coil stop which is moved varying distances according to the thickness of the coil being handled and which is spaced from a reference plane coincident with the end of the wrapping mandrel so that a coil that is pushed off the wrapping mandrel is abutted against the coil stop and is there fully supported on the arbor.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of a device for transferring coils from a loading position to a discharge position which device is economical t build, which requires no manual handling of the coils, and which provides a rapid means of transferring coils of varying thickness.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pivoting downender platform for receiving coils which has power driven roller means allowing for easy discharge of the coils.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a pivoting downender platform for handling coils, which platform is unitary in that it has mounted thereon separately actuated arbor and stop means for handling slit coils and a drive motor for a plurality of rollers that are used for discharging the coils to the conveyor line at the discharge position.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a device for receiving coils from a vertical position, holding the coils on an arbor in that position in reference to a loading platform and tilting the loading platform to a horizontal position so that the coils rest on the platform and the arbor may be withdrawn.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description used to illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention as read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the downender with portions in cross-section taken along the plane of lines 11 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2 is an end plan view with portions cut away and the rollers shown in phantom lines.

FIGURE 3 'is a view taken in the plane of lines 3.3 of FIGURE 2 showing details of the arbor and with portions in cross-section.

FIGURE 4 is a view taken in the plane of lines l -4 of FIGURE 2 showing details of the coil stop and with portions shown in cross-section.

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating the preferred em'bodiment of the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting same, FIGURE 1 shows three coils of strip X which have been wrapped on a wrapping mandrel B. A pusher plate A which is mounted for reciprocation by suitable means, not shown, is used to push the coils onto the downender platform 10. The downender platform is provided with platform rollers 12 for facilitating the moving of the coils at the discharge position. The rollers are mounted on roller brackets 14 at either end of the platform and are driven by a roller driver motor 16 and a motor drive shaft 18 through a drive motor sprocket 20 which drives a drive sprocket chain 22 that in turn rotates roller sprockets 24. The roller drive connection is also shown in FIGURE 4 wherein the motor, the roller and the roller drive chains 26 are shown in phantom lines. The motor 16 is provided with a motor cover 28 and a motor mounting plate 30 which mounts the motor upon the downender platform 10. The downender platform pivots about a pivot shaft 32 which is mounted in suitable bearings 34 (see FIGURE 2) and is connected to the downender platform by a pivot arm 36. The supporting structure for the downender is shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 and comprises a bearing support beam 38 connected to a base I beam 40 by a cross piece 39 and a platform support 42 which supports the downender platform in its discharge position, as shown in phantom in FIGURE 1. The platform support 42 is supported by a support beam 44 on the base I beam 40.

The means for pivoting the downender platform comprises two platform actuating downender cylinders 46, only one being shown in FIGURE 2, having an end cover 48 and provided with a swivel coupling 50 which is mounted on swivel pins 54 riding in bearing 52. The actuating cylinder 46 pivots the platform through the connecting rod 56 which is connected to the platform through a swivel piece 58 which swivels on a spindle 62. The spindle 62 is mounted in angle brackets 64 which are integrally connected to the downender platform 10. The actuation of the cylinders 46 is by conventional hydraulic means, not shown.

FIGURE 1 and especially FIGURE 3 are now referred to in order to discuss the detailed construction of the coil, arbor and its actuating means and in which the coil arbor 66 is in the fully extended loading position. The coil arbor 66 is adapted for supporting coils in the vertical position of the downender platform and means are provided for retracting and extending the arbor in relation to the platform during different positions of the platform. The arbor has a recessed portion 68, shown in FIGURE 1, and a curved radius portion 70, shown in FIGURE 3, for facilitating movement thereof in respect to the rollers 12. The arbor 66 has integral therewith a connecting rod 72 which reciprocates in bushings 74 mounted in asleeve 76. Rocking beam 78 is pivotally mounted in a trunnion 80 and the pivoting movement is provided by first and second arbor actuating cylinders 82 and 84 respectively which are connected to the rocking beam by links 86 and 88 that are threaded to piston rods 90 and 92. The other ends of the actuating cylinders are pivotally mounted by hinge pieces 94 and 96 on two angle brackets 98 and .100 which in turn are fixed in the sleeve 76 and the platform 10. Stop pieces 106 are provided for preventing relative rotation of the rocking beams 78 and 118.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 1 and especially FIGURE 4 for the details of the coil stop and coil stop actuating mechanism which in association with the arbor 66 provides a means of loading coils of varying thicknesses onto the downender platform 10. FIGURES 1 and 4 show the coil stop in its fully extended position for receiving minimum width coils. A pin 110 connects the coil stop 108 with a connecting rod 112 which is suitably guided for reciprocation by a guide cylinder 114 having bushings 116 therein. The connecting rod is connected to a rocking beam 118 by a link piece 120 which is mounted on a link pin 122. The reciprocating motion for the connecting rod 112 is provided by a first and second coil hydraulic actuating cylinders 124 and 126 which are connected to rocking beam 118 by pivot links 128, 130 mounted upon pivot pins 132 and 134. Piston rods .136 and 138 connect the actuating cylinders to the pivot links 128 and 130 and hinge pieces 140 and 142 pivotally mount the other end of the hydraulic cylinders to stationary angle brackets 144 and 146 on pivot pins 141 and 143 which brackets are in turn stationarily fixed to the guide 114 and the platform 10.

The use of two separate hydraulic cylinders for both the coil stop and the arbor provides an advantageous set up for selectively retracting and extending the arbor and the coil stop so that the device may be used to handle coils of varying widths.

Referring to FIGURE 3 the various possible positions of the arbor will be discussed. As shown in FIGURE 3 the arbor is fully extended at the point B with both actuating cylinders fully retracted at points R and R respectively. In order to move the arbor 66 to its fully retracted position R, a distance of 66-S, both cylinders 82 and 84 are fully extended distances of 82S and 84S respectively, to their respective points E and E moving the arbor a distance 66-S. Intermediate point 1 for the arbor can be achieved by fully extending cylinder 82 and fully retracting cylinder 84. Intermediate point 2 for the arbor can be achieved by fully extending cylinder 84 and full retracting cylinder 82. The arbor thus has four separate positions which are obtained exactly with no guesswork by the operator since the actuating cylinders are either fully extended or fully retracted. The various possible positions for the coil stop v108 are similarly variable as for the arbor 66 and the stop is shown in FIGURE 4 in its fully extended point B with the cylinders 124 and 126 being at their fully retracted points R and R In order to move the stop 108 to its fully retracted point R through a distance 108-S, both cylinders 124 and 126 are fully extended distances of 124-S and 126S respectively, to their respective points E and E Intermediate point 1 for the stop is achieved by fully extending the cylinder 124 and fully retracting cylinder 126 and intermediate point 2 for the stop is achieved by fully extending 126 and fully retracting 124. The respective movements of the coil stop and arbor during the loading and discharge steps for various width coils will be discussed in detail in the statement of operation.

In operation, the downender and its features to handle variable thickness coils is as follows:

The strip is wrapped on the mandrel B as either a full width coil of width S or the strip is slit into varying widths resulting in the three coils shown in FIGURE 1. At the completion of the coiling, the object is to remove each coil separately without damage, and at a minimum of human labor. The cylinders 46 of the downender are fully extended thereby raising the downender platform 10 to the vertical position shown in FIGURE 1 and the arbor 66 is fully extended by retracting both the cylinders 82 and 84 thus moving the arbor a distance 66S as shown in FIGURE 3. Coil stop 108 is also fully extended by retracting both the hydraulic cylinders 126 and 124 thus moving the stop a distance 108-S as shown in FIGURE 4. The stop 108 is now spaced from the end of the wrapping mandrel B a distance equal to receive the minimum thickness of coil. The downender now is ready to receive minimum thickness coils as shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 1. The stripper or pusher plate A of the wrapping mandrel is moved in the right-hand direction toward the downender platform pushing the three coils ahead of it until the leading coil strikes the coil stop 108. The pusher plate is moved by hydraulic or other conventional means, not shown, and is retracted leaving one coil X on the downender arbor 66 with two coils remaining on the wrapping mandrel B, the coil stop 108 is completely retracted a distance 108-S by fully extending the two cylinders 124 and 126 to points E and E in FIGURE 4. Next the arbor is partly retracted to point 2 (FIGURE 3) by extending the cylinder 84 a distance 84-8 which motion brings the side of the coil against the face of the rollers 12 that make up the face of the downender platform. Platform cylinders 46 are fully retracted which lowers the platform into the horizontal discharge position shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 1 thus lining up the platform rollers with a roller conveyor, not shown, and the arbor is then completely retracted by extending the cylinder 82. This then leaves the platform in a position for discharge and the electric motor 16 is actuated driving *the rollers 12 through the sprockets and chains previously described. The above steps are then repeated twice to remove the two remaining coils from the tension reel mandrel B to the discharge position.

Now consider the operation involving the handling of an intermediate coil width of half the width of coil S. The arbor 66 is fully extended and the coil stop is extended to point 1 (FIGURE 3) at a distance 5/2 in front of the wrapping mandrel by retracting the cylinder 126 a distance 126-S and extending the cylinder 124 a distance 124-S. The pusher plate moves the two coils of width S/2 toward the platform 10 until the leading coil strikes the coil stop 108 and the stripper plate A is then retracted. Next the coil stop is completely retracted and the arbor is retracted a distance S/ 2 by extending the cylinder 84 and the downender platform is lowered to the horizontal position, the arbor is completely retracted and the rollers of the downender conveyor are driven to remove the coil as in the previous cycle. The above steps are then repeated to remove the other coil.

When the downender is used to handle coils of thickness S the coil stop is not used and is in the fully retracted position at all times. With the arbor completely extended the pusher plate A moves a coil onto the downender until the coil strikes the rollers 12, the downender platform is lowered to the horizontal position where the arbor is fully retracted. The motor 16 is actuated and the coil removed.

The double cylinder control of the arbor and coil stop as discussed above which permits the operator to position the arbor and coil stop at different predetermined points without guess work, as would not be the case if these parts were actuated by single cylinders, provides a positive locating method for varying coil widths.

The present invention has been described in connection with a specific structural embodiment; however, it is ap preciated that the structural embodiment may be changed without departing from the intended spirit and scope of the present invention.

For example, instead of handling strip coils as herein described, this device could be used for transferring a wide variety of annular or coil-shaped articles from one position to another spacially removed position. Although this device has been only shown as receiving coils while the platform is in a vertical position and discharging the coils from a horizontal platform position, it should be readily obvious that this invention could be easily adapted for the reverse order of operation wherein the coils are loaded onto the platform while it is in the horizontal position and the coils are discharged from the platform while it is in the vertical position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for receiving coils of varying thickness at a loading position and for transferring said coils to a discharge position, comprising a pivoted platform for holding said coils, means to pivot said platform from said loading position to said discharge position, selectively movable arbor means on said platform and extendable therefrom for supporting said coils on said platform at said loading position, selectively movable coil stop means mounted on said platform and extendable therefrom for positioning coils of varying thickness on said arbor means, means for separately extending and retracting said arbor and coil stop means from said platform to facilitate loading and discharge of coils from said platform.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the platform includes a plurality of rollers defining a coil support surface, and power means are mounted on said platform for rotating at least some of said rollers whereby said coils are driven from said platform when it is in the discharge position.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said retracting and extending means for said arbor and coil stop means comprises a first hydraulic means connected to said arbor for selectively moving said arbor varying distances from said platform in accordance with the varying thickness of the coils being received and a second hydraulic means connected to and selectively moving said stop means in accordance with the varying thickness of the coils being received.

4. In a downender for shifting acoil of strip from a position with the axis of said coil horizontal to a position with the aXis of said coil vertical, said downender including a platform for receiving said coil with the axis of the coil generally perpendicular to said platform, and means for selectively pivoting said platform between a vertical loading position and a horizontal unloading position where said coil is moved along a selected feedline, the improvement comprising: a plurality of generally parallel rollers on said platform and adapted to receive said coil; means for rotatably mounting said rollers on axes generally transverse to said feedline; means for rotatably driving at least some of said rollers when said platform is in said unloading posit-ion whereby said coil is driven by said rollers from said platform along said feedline; retractable arbor means extending outwardly from said platform and generally perpendicular thereto for supporting said coil relative to said platform when said platform is in said vertical loading position; and, retractable coil stop means extending outwardly from said platform for locating said coil on said arbor.

5. In a downender apparatus for transferring a coil between first and second positions, one of said positions being wherein the axis of the coil is generally vertical and the other of said positions being wherein the axis of the coil is generally horizontal, said apparatus including a platform having means defining a coil support surface and means for selectively moving said platform between a position wherein said support surface lies in a generally horizontal plane and a position wherein said support surface lies in a generally vertical plane, the improvement comprising: a retractable arbor means extending outwardly from said platform and generally perpendicular to said supporting surface for supporting a coil when said support surface is lying in said generally vertical plane; and power actuated retractable means associated with said arbor means and carried by said platform for selectively locating a coil on said arbor means.

6. The improved apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said means defining said supporting surface include a plurality of rollers; and wherein power means are provided for rotating at least some of said rollers for selectively driving coils off or onto said platform.

7. The improved apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said arbor means and said retractable means are pro vided with independent power means arranged to actuate said arbor means and said retractable means to a plurality of predetermined positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,958,525 5/1934 Weber.

2,146,893 2/1939 Gotthardt.

2,700,332 1/1955 Donald 2l4l30 X 2,767,932 10/1956 Valin 242-79 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

F. E. WERNER. Assistant Examiner. 

